Rosin Technique....Easy DIY Solventless

[invertedisdead]

G13 is an older set of genetics, probably has a more unique cannabinoid profile affecting the perceived potency - cause I'm starting to notice a lot of these modern strains are pretty womp. Lots of colorful buds and any terp combination you could wish for, but only a handful of them really hit, effects wise.

 

[shredder]

It seems that the trichomes themself are about as potent as they can get, all growing conditions, etc being equal, but the number of trichomes is the biggest factor

If you look closely at tricombs they vary wildly. Everything from thick stalked heavy headed to skinny delicate trics. It stands to reason the rosin varies as well.

I think a lot of the wax in rosin comes from those stalks that melt in our presses.

I've noticed you get more return on fresher buds, but possibly stronger cleaner rosin from old buds but less yield.
But having said that, there's so many variables going on it's hard to make definitive conclusions.

 

[psychonaut]

If you look closely at tricombs they vary wildly. Everything from thick stalked heavy headed to skinny delicate trics. It stands to reason the rosin varies as well.

I think a lot of the wax in rosin comes from those stalks that melt in our presses.

I've noticed you get more return on fresher buds, but possibly stronger cleaner rosin from old buds but less yield.
But having said that, there's so many variables going on it's hard to make definitive conclusions.

Yes that is very true, I don't know a better way to explain it but if all things are equal including trichome size, I dont think we'll see any major difference in potency between static collected sift with the highest purity on a strain that yields 25% versus one that yields 10%, the different will just come down to yields not potency as I feel that is more related to the variety.

 

[superdang9000]

I've never had any of my product officially tested, but I'm assuming trichome quality and quantity (like @psychonaut mentioned) plays a large role in potency of the final product as well... bigger, unmolested (hue hue) heads = potentially more of the good stuff compared to lipids, wax, plant matter, etc.

edit: whoops, missed the bus. Looks like @shredder touched on this already.

 

[shredder]

Yes that is very true, I don't know a better way to explain it but if all things are equal including trichome size, I dont think we'll see any major difference in potency between static collected sift with the highest purity on a strain that yields 25% versus one that yields 10%, the different will just come down to yields not potency as I feel that is more related to the variety.

It's really hard to get straight facts without testing the herb and the rosin. We are all basically guessing based on observation. And that while helpful doesn't really settle this

I know there are different results from top buds to mid or bottom buds so you'd have to test each puck. Something out of a normal grower/squeezer's capability.

I guess you could squeeze an entire plant, mix it well for testing and then compare it between other plants.

In a way, for me, it doesn't matter anyway. I don't weigh my buds anymore. I figure it is what it is. I can tell if I got a good return by how much I get per puck. My pucks average about 12 grams give or take. A good return is 2+ grams and a poor return is 1 gram.

But for me with a handful of patients it matters more what they like or want than knowing exact numbers. I just grow and squeeze what they want.

 

[oddjobold]

Okay i got my kipozi hair straightners, so i decided it give it a go. i had a c clamp for pressure and 2g of fairly decent weed. Not a named strain but good stuff. I used tesco grease proof paper, and a pointy end dab tool.

Bit of a disaster. Cracked the hair straightners. I did intend to remove the plates eventually and mount in a clamp, so not a total disaster. Got a fair amout of rosin, which smelt amazing however this is where it started to go wrong.

I had trouble collecting it. When i used the dab tool it would start to collect rosin but then the bubble of rosin touched the paper and it would smear in and disapear. I ended up with not enough for even a dab.

What i produced smelt amazing so i want to carry on. I have brought an irwin clamp, some jb weld, some raw parchment paper and a new spoon shaped dab tool. I think the hair straightner is still good for the bulid. So far i am only £60 in

Any advice here would be much appreciated.

 

[psychonaut]

@oddjobold if you can mount the kipozi plates onto some wood for insulation that'll be good for your Irwin clamp and also keep the plates more flush. Also if you want to get the best results with the pressure you have, kief, hash and sift in a small micron filter is what you wanna press. For flower you benefit more from having a lot of pressure available which these clamps don't produce.

If you only wanna press flower if you have a small pollen press that should keep the puck size small to where you get a decent extraction with 1-1.5g

 

[LesPlenty]

I had trouble collecting it. When i used the dab tool it would start to collect rosin but then the bubble of rosin touched the paper and it would smear in and disapear.

If your rosin is very runny/oily, stick the parchment paper in the fridge for a couple of minutes or use a cold plate (a cool slab of metal or something flat out of the freezer to stretch the paper on before scraping up, I like a flat chisel for collecting myself...good luck and happy squishing.

 

[CrazyDiamond]

if it's runny there's still water in it. I usually let my parchment sit out overnight open with a fan circulating air (that is if it is runny). My tech isn't scientific, but I am fairly consistent. I take the nugs I want to press and put them in glass bowl with a damp brown coffee filter. Let that sit 24 hours and almost every time, they have the perfect moisture for pushing the oil out and I can pick right off the parchment after it cools.

The above suggestion about mounting the plates is crucial so that you can get the pressure you need.

 

[LesPlenty]

if it's runny there's still water in it.

My 15 month cured pot lives at 62% humidity with Bovida, I don't think there was much moisture, some strains are just runny with a hair straightener and I hear some strains are just oily (I now get shatter consistency with the same buds on my Dabpress if I am too slow collecting it)
Once you start getting some good results things can escalate, collection tools(you have already started there), parchment paper choices, goo mats, storage and probably end up with a press...I can think of worse hobbies to have.

 

[CrazyDiamond]

I started with the hair straighteners (I think a lot of us did) mounted to some clamps. I then moved to what's in my sig; Copper Nickel plates welded together by another member here, @Joel W. , with soldering irons in the middle of them, which are mounted to a couple small pieces of wood, mounted to a bench vice that is not mounted so it can be stored away. I know I don't get the pressures like some do from a press, but I believe there is a point where the pressure increase no longer has any benefit (I guess I mean there is a maximum pressure point where anything above gains you nothing). I now consistently get 16-18% return and more often than not, pushing 20% with my small rig.
On a side note, love your Taz avatar.

 

[shredder]

if it's runny there's still water in it. I usually let my parchment sit out overnight open with a fan circulating air (that is if it is runny). My tech isn't scientific, but I am fairly consistent. I take the nugs I want to press and put them in glass bowl with a damp brown coffee filter. Let that sit 24 hours and almost every time, they have the perfect moisture for pushing the oil out and I can pick right off the parchment after it cools.

The above suggestion about mounting the plates is crucial so that you can get the pressure you need.

You can have runny sappy rosin that doesnt have an excess of water. Try squeezing cherry pie sometime. It can help to lower the plate temperature but not always.

Rosin from wet buds can be runny, when I tried with buds about 3 days after cutting down the rosin was a gooey mess that does get easier to collect after it sets out a long while. You won't get that from buds with the right humidity. Sappy yes, gooey no. When i say gooey, its stringy and sticky and not clear, you can tell it has water. In another week or 2 it would not be gooey, so waiting a bit makes it easier on yourself later. I use the same humidity packs as @LesPlenty but it can still be runny and sappy or not, depending on the buds and conditions.

I'm liking the quality of squeezed rosin from older mature buds, like 3+ months old. But stored with the humidity packs in glass jars. It seems to run cleaner in my vapes , than rosin from fresher buds, and it's generally easier to collect, although it yields less. (less plant wax weight?)

 

[CrazyDiamond]

Sappy yes, I get that can be strain and many other variables...but runny, that screams excess moisture to me. I have pressed many many strains and they not one has been runny. Sappy yes, shattery, yes, waxy, yes, but mostly I can stick a stainless pointy dab pick into the edge of what I collected and it just peals right off the parchment. A lot of times I don't even know the strain since I'm in an unfriendly state and it all comes out nice. I guess I'm not picky as to the consistency since it usually comes out like I just described...peal and dab. This is just my opinion from what I've experienced and I am by no means a scientist or have any real "scientific" knowledge of this. I just know there has to be some moisture in the nugs so that the water along with the pressure, help displace the oil to the outside edges and beyond from the nug.

 

[oddjobold]

Yes that is very true, I don't know a better way to explain it but if all things are equal including trichome size, I dont think we'll see any major difference in potency between static collected sift with the highest purity on a strain that yields 25% versus one that yields 10%, the different will just come down to yields not potency as I feel that is more related to the variety.

Would i be better off with a drill vice than a quick grip?

Was looking at this?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/331920249902

I plan to squish flower mostly.

 

[LesPlenty]

I used a Record (Pommy) 1 TON bench vise while saving for a Dabpress, I used 2 blocks of wood and just cranked by hand, no pipe helper, straight on my China Hair straightener, it would creak and groan under the pressure but never broke! My Irwin clamp was useless compared.

 

[oddjobold]

I used a Record (Pommy) 1 TON bench vise while saving for a Dabpress, I used 2 blocks of wood and just cranked by hand, no pipe helper, straight on my China Hair straightener, it would creak and groan under the pressure but never broke! My Irwin clamp was useless compared.

Thanks thats what i thought. I cancelled the order for the irwin clamp and went for the vice. The vice could be used with a slug.33 as well if the hair straightners dont work.

So my plan.

I have ordered some little wire connectors like this.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/183288295228

Take the straightners apart detach the heating plates, solder in the female connector. Put the straightners back together minus the plates and plastic surronding the plates, but keeping the rest of the case intact.

Add some longer wires to the heating plates, solder in the male connector. Then use JBweld to cement these heating plates on a marine ply backing. Use heat shrink or insulating tape on all the wires.

I dont plan to have the heating plates / ply attached to the vice. I can just slide these in and out as required.

How does this sound?

 

[miguelovic]

Sounds like a plan. Get some pictures up when complete. I miss scabbing shit together to make oil.

I don't miss pressing for a week to process a lb.

But it was more exciting back then.

 

[oddjobold]

Its coming along

Slightly surprised it still works - but it does!

Have now jbwelded both of the heat pads to a piece of marine ply as a backing.

My vice has arrived so almost good to go.

 

[CrazyDiamond]

Nicely done...good start. Here's mine and what I can produce. Shout out to @Joel W. for the plates.

 

[Stu]

Nicely done...good start. Here's mine and what I can produce. Shout out to @Joel W. for the plates.

FYI Imgur hates us so the images won't show as embedded on FC. Please try a different image host like postimages.org.

 

[CrazyDiamond]

I wasn't able to edit in time so re-posting with a different image host...I'll post more soon. In the last pic, if remember right, there almost three different consistencies with the final product if you look close at the pic...a wax like, a crumble type, and a shatter, lol.

 

[oddjobold]

It works! Not sure on yield - but does not look great. I squished about 5g. Also some leakage. I think i need a ss pipe to give more leaverage on the handle its quite short.

 

[CrazyDiamond]

Extra pipe will help on leverage. For leakage, you may have had a blowout...I take a double folded piece of parchment, so twice what I would use for the nug parchment and that inside, in effect encasing the nug with parchment with the doubled up one if that makes sense. The problem I see for you for extra leverage is how you stop the entire vice from rotating. With my vice, I put my left hand on the back of it to keep it flat and my right hand operates the lever with extra bar.

 

[LesPlenty]

The problem I see for you for extra leverage is how you stop the entire vice from rotating

Bolt it to a wall for driptech. (or just to a board that you could stand on while screwing)

 

[oddjobold]

Extra pipe will help on leverage. For leakage, you may have had a blowout...I take a double folded piece of parchment, so twice what I would use for the nug parchment and that inside, in effect encasing the nug with parchment with the doubled up one if that makes sense. The problem I see for you for extra leverage is how you stop the entire vice from rotating. With my vice, I put my left hand on the back of it to keep it flat and my right hand operates the lever with extra bar.

Thanks for all the help. I shall double layer next time.

There is enough room at the back of the vice to put my foot on it to hold it steady.

So i brought a quater to experiment with. I have done 4 or 5g with the hair straightners in the vice. I have about 2 or 3g left to squish.

I have also brought something called a "rosin snail". Basically its similar to the slug 33. Made in the UK (same as me) and about half the price. Just waiting for an IR thermometer. Apparently the guy who makes the rosin snail says an IR thermometer works with his device unlike the slug. The snail is a 2g.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/362654964136

This is why the hairstraightner plates are lose. So i can use the vice for other devices.